It is currently estimated that there is, or there will
be shortly, six billion humans inhabiting the planet earth(1). The theme of population, and more specifically,
overpopulation has been in the popular mind for the last thirty years or more.
Schools, national governments, international legislative bodies, interest groups
and the media have all but insured that the public sees the issue of population
as a problem, and increasingly, in reference to natural resources and the
environment. At the heart of the population-resources-environment debate lies
the question: can the earth sustain six billion or more people? How one answers
this question depends greatly on whether or not one sees population as a
problem.

Is population a problem? Some would argue that yes, population is a problem
in that the earth is limited, that it can only sustain a certain number of
people (although no one knows what that particular number may be), that the more
numerous we become, the poorer we will become. Others argue that no, population
is not a problem, but that it is government policies, economic structures and
the organization of society that is the problem. Some contend that numbers in
themselves do not equal poverty; rather, poorly structured societies and
economies foster poverty.

How people perceive the issue of population is critical, for it is by these
perceptions that international legislative policies are formed, economic
development packages are crafted, federal social and economic programs are
formulated, and local sex education classes are designed. Thus, it is equally
critical that people ensure that their perceptions are grounded, not in rhetoric
and emotion, but in established scientific and empirical data. An accurate
understanding of the data will enable people to think and act rationally with
regard to population on a local, state, national, and international level.